Ledo Pizza buys a slice of BBQ

Ledo Pizza System Inc. has bought a minority stake in Rockville-based Urban Bar-B-Que Company, and the two have plans to expand the small chain nationally.

Financial terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed.

Ledo, with 100 pizza restaurants, and Urban Bar-B-Que, with five locations in the Washington area, have formed a joint venture, initially focused on franchising the barbecue chain throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Urban Bar-B-Que owners David Calkins and Lee Howard opened their first restaurant in 2003.

Calkins was cooking at J. Paul’s in Georgetown and Howard was managing the nearby Old Glory barbecue restaurant. The two partnered on Urban Bar-B-Que because “we got tired of making everybody else rich,” Calkins says on their website.

Urban Bar-B-Que now has two locations in Rockville, as well as locations in Silver Spring, Sandy Spring and Ashburn.

Ledo, known for its square pizzas and hand-cut pepperoni, opened its first pizza restaurant in Adelphi in 1955.